Former Poteau Mayor Dies

Former Poteau Mayor Don "Diamond Don" Barnes died Monday following a long illness, and those who worked closely with him say the community will miss him greatly.

Former Poteau Mayor Don “Diamond Don” Barnes died Monday following a long illness, and those who worked closely with him say the community will miss him greatly.

Barnes, 71, served as Poteau mayor from 1991-95. He is known for his efforts to honor LeFlore County military veterans and to establish Ten Commandments monuments throughout the county.

His funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Center in Poteau with burial at Oakland Cemetery of Poteau.

On Tuesday, Poteau Mayor Jeff Shockley said Barnes, a radio announcer during the 1970s and 1980s, was a promoter by trade and put that skill to work for the city before, during and after his four-year term as mayor. “Diamond Dan” was Barnes’ radio moniker.

Shockley was on the City Council when Barnes served as mayor. As mayor, he said, Barnes was responsible for getting Poteau listed among the Top 100 Small Towns in America and setting up the Poteau area recreational complex.

Disabled Americans Veteran Chapter No. 63 Commander Charlie Horsley said Barnes was instrumental in multiple community projects. He helped lead the push for a memorial war wall erected in front of the LeFlore County Courthouse at Poteau that honors county military veterans from the World War I era through the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars, Horsley said. Barnes was instrumental in the Ten Commandments program that has spread not just around the county but also around the nation and world, Horsley said.

“He doesn’t have his name on any building. He wasn’t an outspoken man. He worked from the sidelines. … He didn’t do his work for recognition of himself, he did it for the community,” Horsley said.

Karen Wages, Poteau Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer, said Barnes was a great leader and community visionary.

“In the past few years, even though he was very sick, he continued to push forward for what he believed in,” Wages said by email.

Wages also cited Barnes as the inspiration behind the Ten Commandments project, the courthouse lawn veterans memorial and Poteau’s song contest to promote Cavanal Hill, celebrated by city officials as the “world’s highest hill” at 1,999 feet in height. Barnes’ criteria for the town was used by winning songwriters Michael and Don Martin as lyrics for “Our Town,” Wages said.

In early 2009, Barnes led the push for placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the courthouse lawn. With legal challenges wending their way all the way to the Supreme Court for similar monuments, that portion of the project did not succeed. The monument instead was installed in January 2010 on a small but highly visible parcel of land donated by Community State Bank.

Barnes’ health failing, he asked Horsley and the DAV to spearhead the monument push, which continues, Horsley said.

Barnes was active in many community organizations, and even toward the end of his life continued promoting Poteau, Wages said.

She said Barnes recently posted an “interesting facts about Poteau” link on a Facebook page and spoke about a need to make a movie about a bank robbery in downtown Poteau by the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow on Jan. 25, 1934.

Barnes was a Vietnam veteran of the Naval Security Group; a member of DAV Chapter No. 63, American Legion Chapter No. 210, LeFlore County Veterans Memorial Association chairman, Poteau Masonic Lodge No. 46, Amateur Radio Relay League amateur HAM radio operator; and a former member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and Lions Club.

Shockley said Barnes was a good family man. His family enjoyed the Super Bowl game on Sunday, and Barnes passed peacefully in the company of loved ones Monday evening, Shockley said.